Total Eclipse Of The Heart....

© Greg Gibbs. You may not use, replicate, manipulate, or modify this image without my permission. All Rights Reserved.

"Total Eclipse Of The Heart.......Of The Galaxy"

I had this shot (and title) in mind well in advance of the total eclipse on the 16th of June, 2011 (Australian time). I realised the moon would be very close to the central bulge of The Milky Way when it was eclipsed and that because it was going to be a very dark moon, I thought there would be a chance I would be able to do a wide-field long exposure featuring the moon (normally impossible).

Featured in this pic is the central bulge of The Milky Way which contains numerous dust clouds, nebulas and star clusters, and of course the moon (oh, and three satellites moving through the frame).

Single exposure taken with a Canon EOS 60D using a 50mm F/1.8 lens, piggyback mounted to a NEQ6 PRO Goto Mount.

I decided to add the black border to help bring out the detail as the DA background is not the best for viewing this sort of thing (and I didn't wan't to put my name over any part of it)

*Update 22/06/2011- I was never happy with the colour of the original upload. I felt it was too bland and grey looking for my tastes, and the more and more I looked at it, it really started to bug me. So I had a bit of a play around with the levels in this picture to try to bring out a more natural colour balance. I'm much happier with how this looks now. It has made the nubulosity stand out and has given the eclipsed moon more of it's red colour. I hope you like the change.*